1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method for displaying a plurality of images.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasing popularity of digital cameras, systems for creating an electronic album with dedicated terminals or personal computers (PCs) and displaying or printing the electronic album are widely used. The systems allow users to select images for the album, arrange the selected images in an album template to create the electronic album, and display or print the electronic album.
Users may capture many images with digital cameras, which may result in significant time expenditure for the users to select images from the many captured images and arrange the selected images in a desired layout.
To reduce the users' labor, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-277065 proposes a method for displaying, as selection targets, images having attribute information that matches attribute information attached to a frame, in which a selected image is displayed on a screen. Since candidate images for the frame are narrowed down and displayed, this method may reduce the users' labor for selecting the image.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-293986 proposes a method for automatically selecting an image serving as a main image in a page, automatically extracting sub-images based on a relationship with the main image, and arranging the images on the page. This method may automate the work for selecting and arranging the images.
However, since images having attribute information that match attribute information set for a template are selected in the method proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-277065, images matching the attribute information set for the template may not extract the desired images. For example, if a focal length is set equal to 100 mm to select close-up images, the probability that images satisfying the focal length condition of 100 mm may be low. In addition, when a telephoto lens is used to capture images, the focal length of 100 mm may not indicate close-up images. Thus, intended images may not be selected.
Additionally, since sub-images are extracted similarly and are arranged on the same page as a main image in the method proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-293986, there may be a high probability that similar images are arranged on the same page. Accordingly, it may be difficult to portray a story or to include an accent image having a different look on a page.